After suffering a tear in the ligament that connects the toe to the foot in October, the Coleraine man suffered the exact same injury again recently.

After 14 weeks of rehab and just a fortnight from a playing comeback, the ligament popped again. He underwent surgery for the second time two weeks ago.

Trimble had already reckoned that a Six Nations return was unlikely, given the competition for wing places, but hoped to at least aid Ulster’s play-off push. Now his season is over.

“It’s gutting because I trained hard with nothing to show for it,” the 30-year-old said.

“I’m going to take my time and make sure everything goes to plan. I’d be unbelievably unlucky for it to happen again.”

He’s looking at being fit again at the start of June in this World Cup year.

“It’s daunting and I know how hard it is,” he said.

“The last time I was protected a little bit by naivety, not knowing what the process should be. Now I know exactly what’s ahead. I just have to get on with it.”

The winger was the surprise packet of last spring, coming out of Test exile to play a central role in championship success. Now he’s watching on as Ireland keep winning – but is unable to understand the criticism that’s come after two Six Nations victories from two.

“It’s amazing how critical people get,” he said. “We just beat France and people are upset because we didn’t score a try!

“That’s ridiculous coming from where we were five years ago.

“But I know Joe will be as critical as a lot of the press – and a lot of the boys will be hard on themselves because they want to achieve big things.

“Sometimes in those matches it’s not pretty – you just have to grind out a win.”